“There is a moment in every great story in which the presence of grace can be felt as it waits to be accepted or rejected” (“Mystery and Manners”). This is a truly intense quote made by Flannery O’Connor; she is basically stating that no matter the circumstances, grace can always be found; however, it is a matter of finding it and furthermore, accepting it as grace or rejecting it. Dictionary.com defines the term ‘grace’ as “mercy; clemency; pardon.” I feel that this can be applied to O’Connor’s stories because whether it be Asbury, Mrs. Turpin, or each of the three major characters in “The Lame Shall Enter First” (Sheppard, Rufus, and Norton), the characters have some sort of internal debate about grace and its existence and presence in whatever may be going on in their lives.
In O’Connor’s Mystery and Manners she says the following: “From my own experience in trying to make stories ‘work,’ I have discovered that what is needed is an action that is totally unexpected, yet totally believable … and frequently it is an action in which the devil has been the unwilling instrument of grace.” O’Connor wants to represent the action of God’s grace in the world, a world that is “enemy territory,” and with characters who repel His grace, but eventually surrender to it; this is precisely what Asbury does in the “Enduring Chill” (O’Reilly). Overall, I hold the belief that God can move us to Him, even using our “defective wills.”
I advocate that Dr. Block and Fr. Finn are unaware associates in the “divine plan” for Asbury. Fr. Finn tells Asbury exactly what it is that he needs to hear: “The Holy Ghost will not come until you see yourself as you are — a lazy ignorant conceited youth.” The interaction between Fr. Finn and Asbury s...
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O'Connor, Flannery. Everything That Rises Must Converge. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965. Print.
O’Connor, Flannery, and Sally Fitzgerald. Mystery and Manners. New York: Farrar :, 1969. Print.
O'Reilly, Paul J.. "Flannery O'Connor and "The Enduring Chill"." Thomas Aquinas College. N.p., 15 Oct. 2011. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. .
Pearson, Cliff. "The Theme of Grace in Flannery O'Connor's Revelation." Yahoo Contributor Network. N.p., 21 Aug. 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. .
Shannon, Lisa. "Religion and Irony in Flannery O'Connor's Writing." Yahoo Contributor Network. N.p., 13 July 2006. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. .
Asals, Frederick. Flannery O'Connor : The Imagination of Extremity. University of Georgia Press; Reissue edition. Athens, Georgia, 2007.
Another form or irony found through out the pages of Flannery O’Connor’s short story is dramatic irony. This irony occurs at the very end of the story, when the...
Scott, Nathan A., Jr. "Flannery O'Connor's Testimony." The Added Dimension: The Art and Mind of Flannery O'Connor. Ed. Melvin J. Friedman and Lewis A. Lawson. New York: Fordham UP, 1966. 138-56.
O’Connor, Flannery. "Everything That Rises Must Converge.” The Story and Its Writer. Charters, Ann. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2011. 650-662. Print.
Flannery O’Connor believed in the power of religion to give new purpose to life. She saw the fall of the old world, felt the force and presence of God, and her allegorical fictions often portray characters who discover themselves transforming to the Catholic mind. Though her literature does not preach, she uses subtle, thematic undertones and it is apparent that as her characters struggle through violence and pain, divine grace is thrown at them. In her story “Revelation,” the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, acts sanctimoniously, but ironically the virtue that gives her eminence is what brings about her downfall. Mrs. Turpin’s veneer of so called good behavior fails to fill the void that would bring her to heaven. Grace hits her with force and their illusions, causing a traumatic collapse exposing the emptiness of her philosophy. As Flannery O’Connor said, “In Good Fiction, certain of the details will tend to accumulate meaning from the action of the story itself, and when this happens they become symbolic in the way they work.” (487). The significance is not in the plot or the actual events, but rather the meaning is between the lines.
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Flannery O’Connor: Collected Works. New York, NY: The Library of America, 1988. 137-153.
Cofer, Jordan. "Flannery O'connor's Role In Popular Culture: A Review Essay." Southern Quarterly 47.2 (2010): 140-157. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
A story without style is like a man without personality: useless and boring. However, Flannery O’Connor incorporates various different styles in her narratives. Dark humor, irony, and symbolism are perhaps the utmost powerful and common styles in her writing. From “Revelation” and “Good Country People” to “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” all of O’Connor’s stories consist of different styles in writing.
Flannery O’Connor's perception of human nature is imprinted throughout her various works. This view is especially evident in the short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” She conveys a timeless message through the scope of two ignorant, southern, upper class women. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents readers to a family who is going on a road trip with their selfish grandmother. She is a religious woman who does not follow the set standards that she preaches. Similar characteristics are exposed in “Revelation.” As the self centered Mrs. Turpin sits in the waiting room, she contemplates on her own status with God. Nevertheless, she still commits the sin of judging others. In both of O’Connor’s short stories, these controversial protagonists initially put up a facade in order to alienate themselves from their prospective societies. Although the grandmother and Mrs. Turpin both believe in God, O’Connor utilizes theme to expose that they also convince themselves that they can take on His role by placing judgement on people who, at the most fundamental level, are in the same category as them.
1) O’Connor, Flannery, A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Women Writers: Text & Contexts Series). Rutgers University Press, 1993.
O'Connor, Flannery. Parker's Back. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965. Everything That Rises Must Converge. Web. 19 Feb. 2012. .
Raiger, Michael. “’’Large and Startling Figures’: The Grotesque and the Sublime in the Short Stories of Flannery O’Connor.’” Seeing into the Life of Things: Essays on Literature and Religious Experience (1998): 242-70. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec.
Whitt, Margaret. Understanding Flannery O’Connor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 47-48, 78. Print.
Web. . Margaret, Whitt. Understanding Flannery O’Connor . Ebook.
...sque, and in Flannery O’Connor’s artistic makeup there is not the slightest trace of sentimentally” (qtd. in Bloom 19). Flannery O’Connor’s style of writing challenges the reader to examine her work and grasp the meaning of her usage of symbols and imagery. Edward Kessler wrote about Flannery O’Connor’s writing style stating that “O’Connor’s writing does not represent the physical world but serves as her means of apprehending and understanding a power activating that world” (55). In order to fully understand her work one must research O’Connor and her background to be able to recognize her allegories throughout her stories. Her usage of religious symbols can best be studied by looking into her religious Catholic upbringing. Formalist criticism exists in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” through Flannery O’Connor’s use of plot, characterization, setting, and symbolism.